July 13, 2007
In the USA:
Effective this week, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have proposed FY08 spending bills that direct the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to change its Public Access Policy so that NIH-funded researchers are required to deposit copies of NIH-funded research into the…
July 13, 2007
A short post from April 17, 2005 that is a good starting reference for more detailed posts covering recent research in clock genetics (click on spider-clock icon to see the original).
As I have mentioned before, there was quite an angst in the field of chronobiology around 1960s about the lack of…
July 12, 2007
No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there's a wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.
- Erma Louise Bombeck
July 12, 2007
Richard Dawkins is doing a reading/signing at Kepler's bookstore this Saturday. Any Bay Area bloggers wanna go?
July 12, 2007
I And The Bird carnival is two years old! The anniversary edition is appropriately hosted by its founder, Mike at 10000 Birds.
July 12, 2007
A new paper just came out today on PLoS-Biology: Glucocorticoids Play a Key Role in Circadian Cell Cycle Rhythms. The paper is long and complicated, with many control experiments, etc, so I will just give you a very brief summary of the main finding.
One of the three major hypotheses for the…
July 12, 2007
I buried this information between numerous pretty pictures in a yesterday's post, so let me now tell you a little bit more.
A couple of days ago, a new feature was introduced on all published papers on PLoS ONE. Along with commenting on and annotating each paper, you can now also rate it.
The…
July 12, 2007
Echidne, Amanda Marcotte, Laelaps and Larry Moran beautifully destroy the "Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature" article from the recent issue of 'Psychology Today', the latest garbage from the Evolutionary Psychology crowd. Much fun was had by all....
July 12, 2007
I wrote this post back on January 23, 2005. It explains how clock biologists think and how they design their experiments:
So, are you ready to do chronobiological research? If so, here are some of the tips - the thought process that goes into starting one's research in chronobiology.
First, you…
July 12, 2007
Four excellent, thought-provoking articles all in some way related to the idea of Open Science. One by Bill Hooker:
Competition in science: too much of a good thing
and three by Janet Stemwedel:
Clarity and obfuscation in scientific papers
Does thinking like a scientist lead to bad science writing…
July 12, 2007
Revere, Orac and PZ have an update on the fate of the Tripoli 6. Revere explains:
The final act in the drama of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor imprisoned for seven years and sentenced to death by firing squad in Libya after being accused of deliberately infecting over 400 chidren…
July 11, 2007
As you are probably aware, behind the scenes we are busily working on the organization of the 2nd Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is almost all set up - all that is missing are maps and information about travel, directions, etc. (and the dinner wiki) which will be there by the end of August…
July 11, 2007
There are 19 new papers on ONE that were published this week (thus breaking the 600 papers number). Here are a couple that caught my eye (apart from those I already blogged about or will soon):
Imitation as Faithful Copying of a Novel Technique in Marmoset Monkeys:
This evidence of imitation in…
July 11, 2007
A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.
- English Proverb
July 11, 2007
Songbirds Prefer The Latest Music: Golden Oldies Just Don't Cut It With The Chicks:
When it's time to mate, female white-crowned sparrows are looking for a male who sings the latest version of the love song, not some 1979 relic. And territorial males simply find the golden oldie much less…
July 11, 2007
New Habanero Blasts Taste Buds -- And Pepper Pests:
The super-hot, bright orange TigerPaw-NR habanero pepper offers extreme pungency for pepper aficionados, plus nematode resistance that will make it a hit with growers and home gardeners. Plant geneticist Richard L. Fery and plant pathologist Judy…
July 11, 2007
You really don't want to be an enemy of the aphids - two papers today! The first is quite straightforward:
Aphids Make 'Chemical Weapons' To Fight Off Killer Ladybirds:
Cabbage aphids have developed an internal chemical defence system which enables them to disable attacking predators by setting…
July 11, 2007
There is a new piece of information regarding the mammal vs. bird controversy in Chernobyl:
Brightly Colored Birds Most Affected By Chernobyl Radiation:
Brightly coloured birds are among the species most adversely affected by the high levels of radiation around the Chernobyl nuclear plant,…
July 11, 2007
Our former scibling David Dobbs has posted/published two interesting articles about recent findings in neuroscience and behavior:
The Gregarious Brain in New York Times Magazine, about the Williams Syndrome:
If a person suffers the small genetic accident that creates Williams syndrome, he'll live…
July 11, 2007
OK, so I've been here for about a week now. It's been so far an exciting and overwhelming experience - there is so much to learn! And I am impatient with myself and want to get in the groove right now. I need to learn to slow down a little...
Anyway, I did manage to drop in here at the blog a…
July 11, 2007
Chad wrote a neat history of (or should we say 'evolution of') clocks, as in "timekeeping instruments". He points out the biological clocks are "...sort of messy application, from the standpoint of physics..." and he is right - for us biologists, messier the better. We wallow in mess, cherish…
July 11, 2007
Seen on a forum:
I just heard something interesting on the news and I'd like to toss it out to the community for your thoughts....
Forget resumes, job boards, cold calling and even going to the company. The "BIG THING" is Blogging for a Job.
It seems that many recrutiers find YOU by reading your…
July 11, 2007
Grand Rounds 3.42 are up on Aetiology.
Carnival of the Green #85 is up on The Ester Republic.
International Carnival of Pozitivities #13 is up on ScribeSpirit eZine.
Four Stone Hearth #18 is up on Clioaudio.
Change of Shift n.2.v.2 is up on Nursing Jobs.
The Carnival Of Education: Week 127 is up on…
July 11, 2007
This is the third in the series of posts designed to provide the basics of the field of Chronobiology. This post is interesting due to its analysis of history and sociology of the discipline, as well as a look at the changing nature of science. You can check out the rest of Clock Tutorials here…
July 10, 2007
There is only one thing people like that is good for them; a good night's sleep.
- Edgar Watson Howe
July 10, 2007
This post is perhaps not my best post, but is, by far, my most popular ever. Sick and tired of politics after the 2004 election I decided to start a science-only blog - Circadiana. After a couple of days of fiddling with the templae, on January 8, 2005, I posted the very first post, this one, at…
July 10, 2007
Professor Steve Steve (see more of his pictures) is now over his jet lag and decided to go to work with me today. Here he is meeting with Liz Allen, the PLoS Director of Marketing and Business Development:
July 10, 2007
This day, Tesla's birthday, is proposed to become the Global Energy Independence Day. Let's make it happen!
If you don't know much about Tesla, my last years' post about him may be of some help....
July 10, 2007
Menaker Awarded Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine:
Michael Menaker, professor of biology and an international leader in the field of circadian rhythm research, received the Peter C. Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine from the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine during an event there on…
July 10, 2007
Such fascinating creatures! If you have missed it so far, don't miss it now - the two-part series by Mark H on DailyKos:
Marine Life Series: Horseshoe Crab Basics
Marine Life Series: Horseshoe Crab Anatomy
One day when I find some time, I'll have to write a long detailed post about the fascinating…
